Melbourne property developer offers $100,000 off units for Black Friday
A Melbourne developer is offering either the best Black Friday deal going around — or a dire sign for the property market.
A Melbourne property developer is offering what might be the best Black Friday deal going around — up to $100,000 off the price of new apartments.
As the housing market cools, developers and agents have been forced to offer sweeteners sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars, ranging appliance packages and rental guarantees to stamp duty payments.
Caydon Property Group is taking that to the next level by taking part in the global Black Friday shopping event, in what it’s describing as an “industry first”.
From 6am AEDT on Friday, buyers will be able to book one of 100 “VIP appointments” on the developer’s website to “lock in the savings” on one of eight projects in Cremorne, Moonee Ponds, Ivanhoe, Northcote, Preston and Flemington.
Caydon international marketing director Steve Williams said there had already been strong interest in the deal with more than 5000 visits to the website, which he said was “fairly robust” and should hold up under the traffic.
“Hopefully this is a pretty innovative way for developers to get involved in what is now becoming a fairly massive global event,” he said. “Traditionally the property sector doesn’t get involved in seasonal events such as Father’s Day or Boxing Day. We’re quietly confident it will be successful.”
Mr Williams said across the portfolio there were five apartments or townhouses that had a $100,000 price reduction. “Every apartment has a discount of at least 5 per cent, then some are up to 10-11 per cent,” he said.
“The majority are off-the-plan but there are some completed apartments. The furthest away would be 2020 in terms of completion but with varying deliverables and milestones along the way.”
Asked if the developer was simply jacking up the price and chopping off a discount, he said, “At midnight on Monday the prices go back to what they were.”
With the housing market falling and debate raging about how far prices have to go, particularly if Labor wins the next election and cracks down on tax breaks for property investors, cynics might view the move as desperate.
But with the opposition vowing to “grandfather” negative gearing arrangements, some investors may see an opportunity to snap up a few more properties for their portfolio before the likely change of government.
National dwelling values have fallen 3.5 per cent since the market turned, with Sydney and Melbourne now down 8.2 per cent and 4.9 per cent from their respective peaks in August and November 2017.
Melbourne unit values have held up relatively well, however, falling just 1 per cent in the 12 months to October compared with 4.9 per cent in Sydney.
Mr Williams denied the move was desperate. “This is in no way anything other than being innovative and trying out the seasonal approach,” he said.
“We’ve had a fantastic year and if things continue as they are it’ll be our strongest year on record. In fact for end of month in October we’re 25 per cent ahead of the prior year in sales volumes.”
Interest had been “mainly local”, he said, with strong interest from first homebuyers. He said he didn’t think sales incentives and gimmicks were a must-have for developers in this market.
“No I don’t believe so,” he said. “We’re very fortunate that all of our properties are in desirable locations, which is why we’ve managed to have strong year-on-year growth.”
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